On the same day the City of Columbus issued a reminder to restaurants they should not collect a 2-percent restaurant sales tax after June 30, the body most affected by that change delayed discussion plans for dealing with it.
Since a bill that would have extended the tax died in committee in the State Legislature in March, the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Trustees voted Monday to take up the budget implications caused by the loss of revenue on July 30.
At its April board meeting, CVB executive director Nancy Carpenter informed the board a discussion of how the CVB would adjust its budget to stay in operations until the end of the calendar year would be held at its June meeting.
But Monday, the board met for just 15 minutes after voting to reschedule its regular July meeting from July 16 to July 30. The board will hold a retreat on that date to re-work its budget.
The current restaurant tax expires in July and the CVB will receive its last collections from the tax in September. The tax generated roughly $2 million annually and was earmarked for tourism and economic development. The majority of the CVB’s funding comes from that tax.
“We decided that we should have a retreat to make these plans instead of trying to deal with it in a regular meeting,” Carpenter said. “We haven’t decided the time and place of the retreat, but we’ll announce that as soon as we know.”
In April, Carpenter told the CVB board there would be across-the-board cuts to the budget.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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